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Gold/Mining/Energy : Copper - analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RagTimeBand who wrote (36)	4/17/1998 11:22:00 PM
From: Ron Everest	Respond to of 2131

More on Copper: canoe2.canoe.ca April 17, 1998 Copper prices jump on smelter worries, oil sinks ÿNEW YORK (Reuters) - Copper closed higher Friday amid rumors, later denied, of severe production problems at an Arizona smelter. ÿ Crude oil moved lower on profit-taking after strong gains earlier in the week. Wheat prices drifted down on forecasts for good weather for the U.S. crop and on talk that China may export wheat. ÿ A glitch at Asarco Inc.'s Hayden, Arizona, copper smelter will delay its reopening to Sunday from Saturday after a planned month-long shutdown, the company said. However, talk of problems at the smelter had spawned rumors of a longer shutdown in New York's copper market. ÿ "The floor was all over the smelter problems," said James Steel, a commodity analyst with Refco Inc. "It's not something that's serious or that's going to change the fundamentals, but the market rallied on it." ÿ Copper prices have sped higher this month because of tightness in world supplies and strong demand. ÿ Copper stocks in London fell 4,625 tonnes to 304,975 tonnes in Friday's London Metal Exchange report, the lowest supply since September 1997. Since February 24, stocks have fallen by 74,350 tonnes. ÿ "The decline can be attributed to the impact of small mine closures on investor psychology and short-term supply hiccups, as demand remains buoyant," said Thomas McNamara, vice president and metals equities analyst with CIBC Oppenheimer. ÿ Copper for May delivery on New York's Commodity Exchange closed up 0.50 cent at 83.85 cents a lb. ÿ "Fifty points isn't a whole lot to get excited about," said a COMEX trader. "But it shows that the market is sensitive to bullish news and tends to shake off bearish news." ÿ Crude oil moved lower as traders took profits from gains made earlier in the week. Oil and gasoline futures had risen at midweek partly on demands by Iraq that the United Nations immediately lift its trade embargo, and warnings that there could be a new crisis if the embargo dragged on. Doubts about Iraq's production capacity and news of production slowdowns in the United States added to the bullish mood. ÿ "People who bought on news of Iraq's demand to have U.N. sanctions lifted appear hesitant and have started to sell," a Salomon Smith Barney trader said. ÿ Since Tuesday, the market has been on the rise with gasoline leading the way after weekly inventory reports issued late Tuesday and early Wednesday showed declines in stocks. ÿ News about U.S. refinery glitches heightened bullish sentiment. Star Enterprise said Friday it still did not know when it could restart its 100,000 barrel per day Convent, Louisiana, crude unit, which was damaged by fire last Sunday. ÿ NYMEX crude oil for May closed down 44 cents at $15.46 a barrel. Gasoline for May closed down 0.27 cent at 52.48 cents per gallon and May heating oil was off 0.84 cent at 43.76 cents per gallon. ÿ Wheat at the Chicago Board of Trade closed lower on diminished concerns that cold weather in the U.S. Great Plains would hurt the young plants and on talk that China has wheat for export, traders and analysts said. ÿ "There's talk China has exportable wheat for sale, and that's not too far-fetched because last week China had exportable cotton and that broke the cotton market," said John Kleist, an analyst with Intersat Communications. ÿ Freezing temperatures spread over the Great Plains and part of the Midwest overnight Thursday, and more freezing weather was likely overnight Friday. Meteorologists said the cold weather should not harm the wheat. ÿ Wheat for July delivery in Chicago ended 1-3/4 cents lower at $3.14 a bushel. ÿ

To: RagTimeBand who wrote (36)	4/19/1998 10:09:00 PM
From: RagTimeBand	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 2131

FOCUS-U.S. smelter glitch briefly spooks copper biz.yahoo.com Friday April 17, 5:15 pm Eastern Time LONDON, April 17 (Reuters) - Start-up difficulties at Asarco Inc's Hayden copper smelter in Arizona spooked LME copper trade late on Friday, with rumours of problems there driving prices up before firmer news emerged to dull prices. Precious metal palladium traded choppily, rising fast on news that Russian deputies had rejected President Boris Yeltsin's nominee for prime minister only to fall again later. LIFFE coffee futures ended mixed after a volatile session while white sugar futures drifted to near the day's lows despite good buying support around current levels. Cocoa held its early gains by the close. The Asarco copper smelter was experiencing ''some start-up difficulties'' following a planned one-month shutdown that began March 18, an company spokesman told Reuters. ''The problem wasn't anything out of the ordinary. We were originally expected to come back Saturday. It looks like we're going to start up Sunday morning. Such problems aren't unusual when you bring a smelter up from a shutdown.'' Rumours of an explosion drove London Metal Exchange copper for three months delivery up $30-a-tonne from the day's low to a session high of $1,854, $14 above Thursday's close, as sellers backed-off in the face of panic shortcovering which touched off stop-loss buying. ''This underlines how vulnerable the copper market is'' said Martin Squires, analyst at brokers Rudolf Wolff. He was referring to a tightening in availability of copper caused by a shortage of scrap feed material to smelters and by buoyant demand for refined metal and products, and also a hint of an engineered squeeze on supplies. Squires said that against this background any talk of production problems would have an immediate impact on prices. Palladium began dull on the back of U.S. dollar strength only to firm sharply after Russia's opposition-dominated lower house of parliament rejected Yeltsin's prime ministerial nominee Sergei Kiriyenko for the second time. The white precious metal peaked at $323.50 an ounce bid within a couple of hours of State Duma deputies' vote only to lose most of its gains as the European afternoon progressed. The Duma must now hold a crunch vote by next Friday that will lead either to a parliamentary climb down on the nomination question or unwanted early elections.